There is a mess of wet and heavy snow between me and the turkey. This is not good.
About this time every year, I start thinking about getting a pair of shoes.
Back to the computer. I've been astounded by the way that people respond to the term "blockchain." It is just a data structure on a network.
As I work on my current project I keep thinking that I should develop the project as a chain of data blocks.
I do know that what I am thinking about is not the same as the sanctified "blockchain" which is supposed to take the file system from Napster and revolutionize the world.
I find the idea of publishing an open ledger as a chain of data blocks appealing.
I should back up to make my case. For the last several decades the intelligentsia as been pushing a même claiming that, as math and computer programming advances, our mathematical and programming languages become more abstract.
I reject this notion. While abstraction plays a role in thinking, I believe that as technology advances we should become more attentive to basics.
I fell into a pattern where I use a relational database like SQLite for all of my programs. Relational database theory is solid. I've used it for decades. But there has always been a nagging voice in the back of my head saying that by building a dependency on the abstract layer between the raw data and program, we impoverish our understand of the underlying dynamics of a program.
When I first started programming, I used an RDBM called "Advanced Revelation." The program included hooks that let users develop their own back end database engine. I developed an indexing structure that allowed me to do some extremely fast calculations on large data sets.
I probably would be happier if I was programming in C. Since I am using PHP, I will experiment with creating a database structure using pack(), unpack() and fwrite().
The change is delaying the project, but there doesn't seem to be any interest the project, so I might as well use this opportunity to play with ideas.